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Pope rips both US presidential candidates

September 13, 2024

» Continue to this story on AP

CWN Editor's Note: Pope Francis denounced both of the leading candidates in the US presidential race, and said that voters would be forced to choose “the lesser of two evils,” during a question-and-answer session with reporters on the plane as he returned to Rome after a 12-day foreign voyage.

“Both are against life,” the Pope said of the US campaign. “Who is the lesser evil, the woman or the man? I don’t know.”

Without mentioning either candidate by name, the Pope said that both candidates are anti-life, “be it the one who kicks out migrants or be it the one who kills babies.”

Making no distinction between immigration policy and abortion advocacy, the Pope said: “Sending migrants away, not letting them develop, not letting them have life, is a bad and nasty thing. Sending a baby away from its mother’s breast is a murder because there is life. On these things, we must speak plainly.”

In response to other questions from reporters, the Pope said:

  • He is pleased with the progress in relations with China—“a promise and a hope”—and still hopes to visit that country.
  • He will not attend the reopening of Notre Dame in Paris on December 8, contrary to some published reports.
  • He hopes to travel to the Canary Islands, to draw more attention to the plight of migrants.
  • He has no immediate plans to visit Argentina. “There are various things to resolve first,” he told reporters. The Pontiff has not traveled to his native land since his election in 2013.

Pope Francis arrived in Rome on Friday evening, ending the longest trip of his pontificate.

The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.

 


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  • Posted by: howwhite5517 - Sep. 17, 2024 7:47 PM ET USA

    There is no moral equivalency between abortion and immigration policy restricting entrance to a country. Inserting himself into US politics has done a great disservice to US Catholics.

  • Posted by: Randal Mandock - Sep. 14, 2024 2:50 PM ET USA

    A mistake the U.S. government is making regarding migration is lack of provision for infrastructure for the millions of purported asylum seekers. Instead of shirking its responsibility to house, feed, and educate to assimilate by buying off these seekers, the federal government should be building cities, schools, hospitals, and colleges along the border to care for and teach them U.S history and culture, as well as making use of their skills and teaching them trades. Shame on the politicians.

  • Posted by: feedback - Sep. 14, 2024 9:21 AM ET USA

    It's hard to make a whole lot of sense of these remarks. Especially that not long ago Francis gave his full support for Biden.

  • Posted by: grateful1 - Sep. 13, 2024 8:06 PM ET USA

    Once again, Francis shows himself to be either incapable of or unwilling to make critical distinctions. That's a feature of this pontificate -- not a bug.